In the Galleries

February 2018

This column designed to provide you with art news and information about interesting shows at the many local art galleries and museums. If you are aware of an event, news or an exhibit, large or small, that you think would be of interest, please email Judith Levine at JULevineRN@aol.com.

If going to a gallery you have not previously visited, we suggest researching directions and transportation first; many of the galleries in DC are accessible via Metro, and parking can be a problem. Unless otherwise noted, admission is free.

Museums

The Phillips Collection

Ten Americans After Paul Klee
Through May 6, 2018
Paul Klee influenced modern painters around the world. This show focus on ten of those. It includes painters such as Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb and Washington Colour School’s Gene Davis.

The National Gallery of Art

4th and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC. 202-737-4215.

In the Library: (East Wing; 10:00 AM. to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, not open on weekends.)

Jackson Pollock’s “Mural” (East Wing)
Through October 28, 2018
This 20-foot-long painting was originally made for the home of Peggy Guggenheim. This installation also includes some of Pollock’s smaller paintings and works on paper, all from this seminal time when he moved into abstract expressionism, a form to which he is a true master.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Utopian ProjectsThrough March 4, 2018
Twenty installation pieces will both enchant and engage attending patrons. They reflect the artists journey from life in 1985 under the Soviet regime to present day.

The Message: New Media WorksThrough April 22, 2018
This show uses five video installations to explore the world by fusing technology with the artists’ individual insights to topics that include death.

Pickett’s ChargeThrough November 12, 2018
“Politically and socially, we are at the edge of another precipice. I’m standing in the middle of a question about where we are as a nation.” (Mark Bradford) Bradford’s mastery of mixed media (the works in this show are collages) will be evident to viewers.

What Absence Is Made OfThrough Summer 2019
“What does absence look like? How can loss—of objects, of memory, of yourself—become a tool for artistic expression? In the face of today’s increasingly noisy consumer culture, What Absence Is Made Of answers these questions and more as it mines the Hirshhorn’s extensive collection in search of the mind-bending ways that artists surmount the limits of the material world.” (Hirshorn catalogue)

The Sackler Gallery/The Freer Gallery

1050 Independence Avenue, SW. 202-633.1000

The Prince and the Shah: Royal Portraits from Qajar Iran (Freer)
Through August 5, 2018

Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia (Freer)
Through November 29, 2020

Secrets of the Lacquer Buddha (Freer)
Through June 10, 2018

Subodh Gupta: Terminal (Sackler)
Ongoing

National Museum of the American Indian

Fourth Street & Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC. 202-633-1000

The Great Inka Road: Engineering an EmpireThrough June 1, 2018
“Construction of the Inka Road stands as one of the monumental engineering achievements in history. A network more than 20,000 miles long, crossing mountains and tropical lowlands, rivers and deserts, the Great Inka Road linked Cusco, the administrative capital and spiritual center of the Inka world, to the farthest reaches of its empire. The road continues to serve contemporary Andean communities across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile as a sacred space and symbol of cultural continuity.” NMAI-catalog

AmericansThrough January 2022
Native American symbols and pictures have been used to represent a wide variety of products in the past. In some cases, such as the Indian Motorcycle, they were considered the epitome of the field. Others were demeaning, picturing Native Americans as picturesque savages. The visitor to this exhibit will experience the range as well as leave understanding how the people felt about these objects.

National Museum of African Art

950 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC. 202-633-1000

Jim Chuchu’s Invocations
Through July 2018

Invocation: The Severence of Ties

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C, 202-633-4751

Visual Art and the American ExperienceThe initial exhibit is also a permanent exhibit.

RenwickGallery

1661 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC. 202-633-7970

Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick GalleryOngoing

National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art Museum

8th St. at F St., NW, Washington, DC. 202-633-1000

The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers (NPG)Through September 3, 2018

Portraits of the World: Switzerland (NPG)Through November 12, 2018

Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image (SAAM)
Through March 17, 2018
This is a series of rotating exhibits. Check with the gallery to find out which is currently being shown.

Tamayo: The New York Years (SAAM)
Through March 18, 2018
Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo (1899–1991) combined his love of the traditional images of his culture with his equally strong interest in Picasso, Pollock and Adolph Gottlieb to transform the direction of Modern Mexican art.